First, it was a ban on artery-clogging trans fats. Then calories were posted on menus. Now the New York City health department is taking on salt. City officials are meeting with food makers and restaurants to discuss reducing the amount of salt in common foods such as soup, pasta sauce, salad dressing and bread.

The head of the American College of Cardiology said Tuesday that he turned away half a million dollars this year by rejecting drug company sponsorship for tote bags and other promotional items that turn thousands of doctors into walking advertisements for prescription drugs during the group's annual meeting.

Dying cancer patients who rely strongly on their religious faith to cope with their illness were three times more likely than others to receive intensive, invasive medical procedures even in their last week of life, according to a study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

A drug approved only to help people with sleep disorders stay awake during the day is also being used off-label by healthy people who think it helps them perform better on the job or at school. But new research into how the medication affects the brain suggests the risk of abuse or addiction, while low, might be greater than previously thought.